This is important work – open this book to any page – trauma is a fact of life and has been a product of the human condition from the earliest records of the human species on this planet.

To inform, counsel, educate, assist, and convey information to U.S. veterans, caretakers and others who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veterans Empowered, Inc. was formed to solicit donations and raise funds for the purpose of assembling, writing, publishing, and distributing PTSD materials and information free of charge to deserving U.S. veterans throughout the U.S. Solicited funds are used exclusively for this purpose. All related work is accomplished by unpaid volunteers.

Education & Resources

To Be Empowered, the Doc Says…
The key to healing is getting started, no matter how difficult or painful – that can sometimes be the hardest part, to get started.

Some external websites we recommend:

Wisdom from the Doc

  • Look around you – use your senses: 5-4-3-2-1
    5. Find five things you can see.
    4. Find four things you can feel.
    3. Find three things you can hear.
    2. Find two things you can smell.
    1. Find one thing you can taste

    This method is called “grounding;” it can help when you feel you may have lost all control of your surroundings.

  • PTSD can happen to anyone – it is not a sign of weakness.

    • About 60% of men and 50% of women experience at least one trauma in their lives.

    ▪ Men are more likely to experience accidents, physical assault, combat, disaster, or witness death or injury.

    ▪ Women are more likely to experience sexual assault and child sexual abuse.

    • Several factors can increase the chance that someone will develop PTSD. If you were directly exposed to the trauma or were injured, you are more likely to develop PTSD.

    • There are many forms of therapy, but many still have a diagnosis of PTSD after completing treatment. (Steenkamp, Litz, Hoge, & Marmar, 2015)

  • The military is a closed system that restricts several personal freedoms. It is aggressive, masculine, collectivistic.

    Servicemen and servicewomen:

    ▪ Must be able to react at a moment’s notice.

    ▪ Are trained how to kill with lethal weapons.

    • Violence becomes a primary way of solving problems.

    • Military training requires development of physical and mental strength.

    • Enforces aggression as a means of survival.

    • Puts demands on young service members’ personality development for potential future life-threatening exposures.

    • The military is action-oriented and uses aggression and force to achieve its goals.

  • Traumatic memories persist as split off unmodified images, sensations, and feelings.

    • Crushing sensations in the chest.

    • Fear of losing control.

    • Anxiety, depression, self-loathing.

    • Nightmares, flashbacks.

    • Always on alert for danger, rejection.

    • Foggy mind, can’t stay on task or engage fully.

    • Unable to open up, to be intimate.

    • Robbed of feeling in charge, self-leadership.

    These are normal reactions to abnormal situations.

  • Loyalty

    Duty

    Respect

    Selfless Service

    Honor

    Integrity

    Personal Courage

Donate a Book for a Veteran

“Veterans in Crisis” offers knowledge and hope for millions of veterans, and for others who suffer the debilitating effects of PTSD. We show the effects that war has had on soldiers from the beginning of time, well before the Bible was written, even before the written word, and all the way to the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Ukraine and potential for nuclear war.

The key to military success in battle is the efficient deployment and maneuvering of forces to kill and neutralize the enemy. In the process, many soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines die and are wounded. Some return home with invisible psychological wounds and don’t understand what’s wrong.